


My Responsibility Now

by InvaderHonk



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Dale Drew is a nervous wreck, Everyone Needs A Hug, Mild Language, POV First Person, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, someone help him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-20
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-08-26 13:30:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16682515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InvaderHonk/pseuds/InvaderHonk
Summary: Dale Drew didn't ask for this, he didn't sign up for this. Hell, he barely knew his great uncle, how is he supposed to handle all the demons he made, all the lives he ruined? The answer? Well, one step at a time, of course!





	1. Settling In

My name is Dale Drew. Yes, that Drew. You know, the guy that made cartoons? Yep. He’s my great uncle. Never knew him personally, though, my dad never really kept in contact with him. Said he let his cartoon fame got to his head. Anyway, I’m now standing at his old house, because apparently I’m the only one that has to clean out whatever old junk he kept around from the glory days. 

I sighed, and unlocked the door. Looking around, the first things I see are Bendy posters clumped up on the wall, a dingy looking cutout, and some stuffed animals. I walk further in, and see his drafts desk, looking at a whole lot of storyboards for some… Really dark reboot by the looks of a lot of them. “Wow he really was into some weird shit, huh?” I mumble to myself as I wander past, into the kitchen. The door to the garage is open, so I check that first, flicking the light on.

The first thing I see is a big box shape under a tarp. I wander over, walking around the object before pulling the tarp off. I blink when I see what was hidden underneath. Some kind of weird machine, with a half a tank of rotten ink sitting inside. “Huh..” I shake my head. “Weird..” Just like the rest of great uncle Joey, it seemed. I knew there was no way to get the big hunk of scrap metal out right at this moment, I was going to have to get a friend of mine to come with his van. I head out of the garage, and to the door right beside it. There’s a flickering light coming from the crack at the bottom of the door. “Huh.. Weird..” I sighed. That word, weird, was starting to become the word of the day.. I jumped out of my thoughts when I heard a thud from the other side of the door.

I stared at the door for a moment, trying to make sense of it. I shook my head. “It was nothing.. Just this old house settling..” I tried reasoning.

“Joey! Joey open the door! Please something went wrong! Joey!!” 

I froze at this, staring at the door as more thudding came from the other side, accompanying the frantic voice. 

“Joey I know you can hear me! He… He’s coming!” 

I might be stupid, but. The sound of someone so… Scared. So tired. Made me open the door. I yelped when three figures scrambled out. 

“Shut the door, shut the door! Jo-” One of them was yelling, but his voice faltered when he turned to see me, standing there, with the door open, staring back at them dumbly.

I couldn’t help it. I screamed. I screamed, and continued to scream when I happened to turn back to the doorway to see something big running towards me. 

I kept screaming until one of the three ran forward, apologizing as he shoved me out of the way and managed to slam the door shut in time, turning around and bracing his back against the door, eyes wide as whatever the hell that thing was scratched and roared at the other side. Eventually it seemed to have gone away, and the person breathed out, slumping to the floor. The other two were at his side in an instant, and I stumbled back, staring at the odd looking trio. 

One was a bipedal.. Dog? With a robotic arm, the other two looked human enough, but both seemed… Wrong, in many ways. The lady had horns, for fuck’s sake. The man.. Well, he looked cartoony too. But that was about it. I froze up when the dog turned his head and gave me an icy glare. 

“Tom, it’s ok, he helped us.” The lady assured, effectively stopping him from possible attacking me. Tom huffed, making a grumbly sound under his breath as he helped the man up. 

“You’re right, we should be.. Going, somewhere.. While we can, anyway. Before he finds us here.” The man mumbled, seeming unsure on his own two feet. He was covered with ink, and scratches, and old scars from who knows what.

I looked back at the door. “What… What the hell was that thing?” I stammered. “The hell are you things?” I added, just wanting answers at this point.

“My name is Henry. This is Alice.” The man introduced, Alice would wave at me a little, smiling. “And Tom.” He continued. Tom continued to glare at me, it was.. Really making me nervous.. 

“And what the hell was that thing in there?” I asked, pointing at the door, while inching away from it just in case any other freaky things wanted to burst out of it. 

Henry seemed to wince, and I noticed. “Bendy.. That was Bendy.” He said after a short moment. I stared at him, before starting to laugh. It was a nervous laugh. “That couldn’t have been Bendy…” I insisted, before starting to put a few things together. “Oh…. Oh. Holy shit…” This was… A lot to take in, all at once…

I had to sit.. I staggered back to the kitchen counter, sitting on one of the stools there, and put my head on the surface of the counter, making a very distressed sound. This was not how I imagined my Saturday evening to go...


	2. Into the Belly of the Beast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaining some trust is harder than it looks. How will Dale fare when all alone? Or... Is he?

It was a lot to take in, even if I was taking it in chunks, because Henry would break down explaining things. Alice only knew so much. And Tom.. Well, all he’s been doing for the last half hour was glaring me down. 

It was a lot to take in, because how am I supposed to get over the fact my great uncle Joey, who was starting to become less and less great the more Henry managed to explain, was keeping monstrous versions of cartoons he used to animate for locked in a hellish world connected to his house? This house.. The one I inherited… How was I supposed to explain this to my parents?

On second thought, they’d might think I was trying to get out of my responsibilities. They were always thinking that.. I was pulled out of my thoughts when Henry stopped talking again, and I jumped up when he fell over without warning. “Oh, shit! Henry!” I yelped, rushing over along with Alice and Tom. 

Alice gathered him up, carrying him with surprising ease to the couch, and setting him down. "He'll be alright, he's been through a lot." She explained. I nodded a little, still very worried. I looked back at the door where that... That thing was no doubt probably waiting. 

From what I gathered, that thing that was chasing them down was Bendy. Just in a corrupted, monstrous form because of Joey. I looked to the floor, before looking back up. "I want to help." I stated, trying to be as serious as I could be. Tom snorted at this, but Alice looked me up and down.

"Are you sure?" She asked. "It's dangerous in there.." She warned. I nodded. I wanted to fix all the wrongs my great uncle Joey had done. She sighed softly, but smiled, coming up to me. Tom would glare that much more at me, watching me like a hawk. Alice pulled something from her pouch of supplies. "You'll probably find a use for this, then. I found it when we were making our way up here." She explained, putting the item in my hand. 

It was a pen, and a strange looking one at that. I blinked at it, noticing that it had the initials 'JD' along with a silhouette of Bendy's head in glittery gold pressed on the side of it. "I uh.. I'm not an artist..." I admitted. "Uh.. Well, unless you count sketches for my robotics.." I mumbled, staring at the strange looking pen. Alice giggled a little.

"That's quite alright, Dale, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it." She assured me, and I looked up to see Tom coming towards me. I yelped when he grabbed me, pulling me as if I was nothing but a rag doll. Alice was frowning. "I'm sorry.." She said. "But you've put us through enough, Joey." She looked at Tom, nodding. I struggled to get free as Tom dragged me to the door, opening it and shoving me in, shutting the door behind me.

I turned, eyes wide as I tried to open the door, but it was locked. "Alice?? Henry! Tom!!?" I called out, panicking. "Let me out!" I stopped and stiffened when I heard a creak of the old floorboards behind me. I slowly turned around, and screamed at what I saw.

The tall thing flinched back, wheezing quietly. It hid its face behind two mismatched hands, bony form trembling before me. I pressed myself to the door, staring it down, before frowning, and leaning forward a bit. "B..Bendy?..." I croaked out, it was a start.. It seemed to peer out at me, but it was hard to tell with all that ink in its face. "I-I won't hurt you... Y-You must be terrified.." I tried a smile, taking a step towards the lanky figure. "I want to help, I promise." I assured, holding a hand out. 

I had to admit, I was a little surprised by what I was sure was Bendy rushing at me, and curling his emaciated form around me, shivering and whining. I did my best to comfort him, and after a while, it worked. He shrank down, and filled out, until he looked like he should. And he kept clinging to me, his thin, noodly tail twitching. 

I smiled at him as I held him. "Hey, it's ok now.." I murmured, rubbing the back of his head comfortingly. "But I'm afraid we aren't out of the woods just yet..."


End file.
